Traveling to the US after a positive test

[accm]

I'm beginning to worry seeing how very easy it is to test positive for covid! My son just tested positive in Ontario, was supposed to fly home to Alberta Jan 7, but tested positive Jan 5 after being told he may have been exposed.... YEP it came back positive! He had to stay an additional 10 days in Toronto and just got back home last week. So.... if this happens with 4 of us trying to fly to the USA for our trip, in October, we are going to be out a lot of money (around 30K) because travel insurance sees Covid as a known event and not something you can cancel over!

Hopefully by October this will be well behind us, but depending how you booked, you might be able to modify everything with no penalty. Unless you booked a very restrictive package, I've found most companies have a pretty flexible cancellation/modification policy.

 

[chimo2u]

Hopefully by October this will be well behind us, but depending how you booked, you might be able to modify everything with no penalty. Unless you booked a very restrictive package, I've found most companies have a pretty flexible cancellation/modification policy.

We booked a Disney package (rooms and tickets) cancelation is allowed up to 2 days prior but day 1 would forfeit the package.
The cruise is a Royal Caribbean cruise and I’m not sure what they’d do that close to the trip.
we’d lose out on our leave from work. It would just be a huge mess! I hope you’re right and things are better by then!

 

[ellbell]

We booked a Disney package (rooms and tickets) cancelation is allowed up to 2 days prior but day 1 would forfeit the package.
The cruise is a Royal Caribbean cruise and I’m not sure what they’d do that close to the trip.
we’d lose out on our leave from work. It would just be a huge mess! I hope you’re right and things are better by then!

You still have plenty of time between now and then to change your plans. I'd take a closer look around August and see how you feel then.

 

[CanucksRock]

The group I know travelling today that tested positive a couple weeks ago all got thru check in & customs. Customs asked nothing. WJ had issue with one letter due to date of positive test, but after talking to manager it was ok’ed. (symptoms started 5 days before positive PCR in a 2yr old; so it’s not been 10 days since Test, but is more than 10 days since onset of symptoms…oh and they asked for vaccination status )

 

[accm]

The group I know travelling today that tested positive a couple weeks ago all got thru check in & customs. Customs asked nothing. WJ had issue with one letter due to date of positive test, but after talking to manager it was ok’ed. (symptoms started 5 days before positive PCR in a 2yr old; so it’s not been 10 days since Test, but is more than 10 days since onset of symptoms…oh and they asked for vaccination status )

That’s interesting about the 10 days, since it doesn’t say it needs to have been 10 days since test/symptoms…

thanks for sharing their experience

 

[CanucksRock]

That’s interesting about the 10 days, since it doesn’t say it needs to have been 10 days since test/symptoms…

thanks for sharing their experience

You have to be cleared to leave isolation, for the unvaccinated in Alberta it is 10 days from symptom onset.

 

[accm]

You have to be cleared to leave isolation, for the unvaccinated in Alberta it is 10 days from symptom onset.

That makes sense. I was thinking of Ontario's rules, which says that kids under 12 only need to isolate for 5 days.

Again, thanks for sharing their experience.

 

[CaptainCook]

Just wanted to ask if any of these stories involve someone travelling with their provincial positive pcr test (not a private lab test). If so, did the test include all the information detailed on the government website? Pcr test results for travel are supposed to include your birth date and the name and address of the lab. Mine does not, but it’s a printout with the government of Ontario emblem on it. I’m trying to figure out whether it would be deemed acceptable for travel or not.

 

[petunia]

Just wanted to ask if any of these stories involve someone travelling with their provincial positive pcr test (not a private lab test). If so, did the test include all the information detailed on the government website? Pcr test results for travel are supposed to include your birth date and the name and address of the lab. Mine does not, but it’s a printout with the government of Ontario emblem on it. I’m trying to figure out whether it would be deemed acceptable for travel or not.

We just came back from the Dominican so can only speak to that, but for coming home we answered "yes" on the arrive can app and when checking into Sunwing counter they asked if we had our PCR test, we said we had positives (3 of them were provincial but we picked up the paper copy from drug store-it had all needed info)..he just looked at the top one of 5 tests. Then back in Canada I dont know if they were just going by our arrivecan responses but he just said "I guess you guys all had covid", we said yup and he put stickers on our passports and waived us through..never asked to see them.

My suggestion would be to ask if where you got the test done can give you the hard copy which will have all the lab info etc needed.

 

[CaptainCook]

We just came back from the Dominican so can only speak to that, but for coming home we answered "yes" on the arrive can app and when checking into Sunwing counter they asked if we had our PCR test, we said we had positives (3 of them were provincial but we picked up the paper copy from drug store-it had all needed info)..he just looked at the top one of 5 tests. Then back in Canada I dont know if they were just going by our arrivecan responses but he just said "I guess you guys all had covid", we said yup and he put stickers on our passports and waived us through..never asked to see them.

My suggestion would be to ask if where you got the test done can give you the hard copy which will have all the lab info etc needed.

Unfortunately we got the tests done at pop-up community testing clinics. Our doctor's office printed copies, they just don't quite contain all the information, though they're close. For example - they all include our ages, but not our date of birth - I'm wondering if that's close enough? Hmm. Maybe I'll give public health a call to see what they say.

I appreciate your response - DR is also where we're hoping to go.

 

[CaptainCook]

I have an update I thought I'd share for anyone who this can help. Today I called my public health unit to explain that I was looking for test results that include all of the fields required for travel purposes, including the name/address of the lab that processed the test and the patient's date of birth. The woman I spoke to said there is an impending government announcement in Ontario that will make standardized public PCR test results available to patients for travel purposes for a $25 administration fee. She said that for now they are making these results available free of charge, until the government policy kicks in. So the good news is that anyone who's had a PCR test done should be able to obtain their results for travel purposes in the very near future. And if you're in a similar boat, I would recommend reaching out to your public health unit now, to see if you can save yourself the $25 fee.

 

[RetiredChipmunk]

Just wanted to ask if any of these stories involve someone travelling with their provincial positive pcr test (not a private lab test). If so, did the test include all the information detailed on the government website? Pcr test results for travel are supposed to include your birth date and the name and address of the lab. Mine does not, but it’s a printout with the government of Ontario emblem on it. I’m trying to figure out whether it would be deemed acceptable for travel or not.

Just flew Toronto-Florida this morning, checked-in online and got boarding pass on my phone without needing to upload test results. (It only let me upload vaccination status, but specifically says it will only accept negative test results and anything else will be verified at the airport).

At the airport, nothing regarding testing was requested or verified. In fact all that you needed to show to go through security and customs was a boarding pass and vaccination status/ QR code. There was a very long line for security but we observed and listened to the staff and no one had to show their test results (negative, positive or otherwise).


I've travelled with the Provincial Positive test several times since December and not once have they cared about any missing information. When they do check, it's only been to look at the date of testing each time and that's it. (That said this is just between YYZ and MCO in our experience so your mileage may vary!)

 

[CanucksRock]

You complete an attestation at check in where to say you are negative, or have the other paperwork. You just need to have it…in case they ask for it.